Petition: Don't Muzzle Librarians and Archivists, Part II

Courageous members at Library and Information Studies Students Association (LISSA) have signed a letter to Dr. Caron, cc Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister Moore. It is important to speak up about Library and Archives Canada's new Code of Conduct, as this impacts our future:

As students, we suffer a deep loss when librarians and archivists at LAC
cannot speak publicly in any conferences, institutions, and teaching
engagements. There are no risks when LAC librarians and archivists share
their knowledge and experience with a new generation. There are great
benefits to bridging the gap from rhetoric to practice for students.
Such knowledge should be transferred with scholarly activities to
maintain, sustain, and preserve our national heritage and collective
memory for future use.

We are deeply affected and alarmed by Library and Archives Canada’s new “Code of Conduct: Values and Ethics” as this restricts the civil liberties and professional rights of employees at Library and Archives Canada. In Section 4, Conflict of Interests, the statement, “The employee has discussed it with his or her manager, who has documented confirmation that the activity does not conflict with the employee’s duties at LAC or present other risks to LAC” raises critical concerns as how a manager may confirm such conflict and with documentation while subjecting the employee to be at the whim of the manager.

This is severely imposing to librarians and archivists who cannot make their own decisions as citizens and as professionals. Our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees all citizens the fundamental rights to express themselves, to engage with associations, which means the ability to teach, and to speak at conferences. Our Canadian Library Association echoes these principles in their position statement on Intellectual Freedom. As scholars, collaboration, dissemination, and sharing of knowledge are essential in making valuable contributions to both our existing body of knowledge and future scholarship.

As students, we suffer a deep loss when librarians and archivists at LAC cannot speak publicly in any conferences, institutions, and teaching engagements. There are no risks when LAC librarians and archivists share their knowledge and experience with a new generation. There are great benefits to bridging the gap from rhetoric to practice for students. Such knowledge should be transferred with scholarly activities to maintain, sustain, and preserve our national heritage and collective memory for future use.

All librarians and archivists commit to “… the development and maintenance of intellectual freedom” as stated by Canadian Library Association. Furthermore, “Both employees and employers in libraries have a duty, in addition to their institutional responsibilities, to uphold these principles.” Library and Archives Canada should endeavor this core value in librarianship, a showcase of our integrity. We, as a profession, serve the public good to support a healthy and open democratic society for all Canadian citizens. We cannot complete our responsibilities without intellectual freedom ourselves. We cannot exhibit respect for democracy and people when we ourselves are denied this respect. We cannot uphold integrity, stewardship, and excellence when we ourselves are not held in these regards. We urge you to revise or withdraw the Code for our future landscape of librarianship.